Though set within the same frigid landscape as the 1996 Coen Brothers movie, the new FX series "Fargo" is not so much an adaptation as it is a close cousin. Two episodes in, it has revealed itself to be a show larded with sight gags, stubborn Midwestern manners, character quirks, black humor and oftentimes a serious and observant look at mangled humanity.

I interviewed Julie Harris several times over the years but one of my favorites was for a piece I did for The Hartford Courant in 1990 in advance of a tour of "Driving Miss Daisy" at New Haven's Shubert Theater.
By FRANK RIZZO
"Don't call Julie Harris...

Before gangster Nucky Thompson (Steve Buscemi) explores a money-making opportunity in Florida, he takes care of business on his Atlantic City turf in Episode 38 (“Resignation”) of HBO’s “Boardwalk Empire.”
First there&...

“William Wilson,” episode 43 of HBO’s “Boardwalk Empire,” refers to an Edgar Allan Poe short story about a college student who in effect commits suicide by murdering his doppelganger.
Analyzing the cautionary tale proves too much for freshman William Thompson (Ben Rosenfield). Guilt-stricken after accidentally killing a classmate and then letting an innocent person go to jail, Willie storms out of class.
By turning his back on education and turning to gangster Nucky...

“Havre de Grace,” Episode 47 of HBO’s “Boardwalk Empire,” is French for Haven of Grace. But this Maryland town isn’t much of a haven for Chalky White (Michael Kenneth Williams), who’s on the lam with his mistress, Daughter Maitland (Margot Bingham).
Nearly slain by drug kingpin Dr. Valentin Narcisse (Jeffrey Wright), Chalky takes refuge at the home of his elderly mentor, Oscar Boneau (Louis Gossett, Jr.). Oscar urges Chalky to stay there permanently.
Chalky...

Sunday night's episode of HBO's The Newsroom saw Don (Thomas Sadoski) take his turn in front of a high-priced legal team led by Rebecca (Marcia Gay Harden) debriefing the ACN team on what went wrong with their season-long investigation into a U.S. Marine missi

Earlier this season, we explored inescapable theme in HBO’s epic period series Boardwalk Empire that everything, above board or below, appears to be a grift. In 1920s America, it was the national ethos, but it presents the thorny problem, Who do you trust when

Halfway through Season 2 of HBO's The Newsroom, we've been treated to glimpses of something resembling a season-long arc pegged to the botched investigation into a potential war crime stemming from American troops' use of sarin gas in the Afghanistan theater.

Running underneath the surface of Terence Winter's sprawling HBO series Boardwalk Empire for three and a half seasons has been a distinctly Marxian, heretical and all-too-true appraisal of 1920s America, boiling down to this: everything is a grift. It's not ju